Sync Licensing For Advertising, Film, TV & Video Games

Learn many valuable tips from Sync licensing expert, Rob Schustack, on how to get your music placed in television, film, advertisements, and video games.

Rob also explains how ‘Sync’ works and how artists, songwriters and producers can get started submitting tracks for music placement. He talks about how music supervisors and agencies search for new music to connect with their customers and how you can translate your music for their needs. In addition, Rob gives us some tips to help make your music more discoverable, as well as how to tag your music properly. This video will help guide you in the right direction to become more educated and prepared for landing a Sync, gain exposure, and hopefully make some money!

Where Have I Heard This Before?

Take a look at some of the music you see being used in film, TV, advertising and video games and see if you can pick out some trends. Do certain shows seem to have a “voice?” Can you pick out specific genres that seem to have been working for various brands, tv shows, video game franchises, etc? A couple of recent trends that we can look at include video game trailers and movie trailers. (Side note: when talking about video game syncs, you can talk about in-game use or trailer use). One trend you may have noticed is the use of lighter, more delicate and chill music, against much harsher and opposing visuals.

Here is one example of a trailer like that. It’s important to keep these trends in mind when you are creating a strategy regarding who to reach out to about using your music. Does the type of music that you like to create work with a specific trend or a voice of a specific brand or show?

Maybe you like to record and produce interesting cover versions of popular songs like we see here. This has been a very big trend within the movie trailer world and utilizes the familiarity of a well-known song, coupled with the benefits of fresh production that can attract new fans and put a new spin on something old. Regardless of what the trend may be, try to identify some common threads between your music and areas of sync that you want to get involved. This will help you work smarter towards opening up those relationships.

You Gotta Getta Meta System

Sorry for the forced rhyming paragraph header, but for real…BE SMART ABOUT YOUR METADATA!!!! Create a system that works for you and allows you to track your music, but more importantly, allows music supervisors to keep track of your music. Try to utilise as many metadata fields as possible, as neatly as possible. Is your track called “Track 01?” Is the artist name “ ?” If so, your music is getting deleted by everyone you send it to. If you are composing for sync, think about the emotions you are trying to convey in your music and name the track something along those lines. Are you submitting music from your last EP? Make sure your contact info and maybe even a link to your webpage is in in the metadata somewhere. The easier you can make everyone’s life that you are doing business with, the easier your life will be.

Honesty Is The Best Policy

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be honest with yourself about the music you hear being used in sync licensing. The cold reality is that there are a seemingly infinite number of songs being created, but only a very limited number of opportunities to place them in. While you don’t have to love every song you hear being used, what you should try to do is understand why that song is being used and why it might be a better fit than your song. Is your song mixed as well as the song you heard in the trailer on TV? Does it “evolve” like we talked about earlier? Are you being thoughtful with your production and really paying attention to the vibe that the sounds you are choosing make? All of these things are major factors in helping your music to wow the right people.

While no one expects you to become a music licensing expert overnight, by understanding the basics and appreciating all of the moving parts that go into sync licensing, you can definitely gain an advantage and move yourself one step closer to closing some more music placements.

As long as you start to ask yourselves these questions and make an effort to start to work smarter, you will be taking the rights steps forward towards understanding how the sync licensing world works and how your music can fit into it.